ND lawmakers define life as starting at conception BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota didn’t set out to become the abortion debate’s new epicenter. It happened by accident, after a legislative caucus that once vetted abortion bills languished, leaving lawmakers to propose a flurry of measures — some cribbed from Wikipedia — without roadblocks. Long dismissed as cold and inconsequential, North Dakota is now trying to enact the toughest abortion restrictions in the nation. The newly oil-rich red...

Police arrest 2 teens in Georgia baby killing BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — A pair of teenagers was arrested Friday and accused of fatally shooting a 13-month-old baby in the face and wounding his mother during their morning stroll through a leafy, historic neighborhood. Sherry West had just been to the post office a few blocks from her apartment Thursday morning and was pushing her son, Antonio, in his stroller while they walked past gnarled oak trees and blooming azaleas in the coastal city of ...

Man in Texas shootout ID’d as Colorado parolee DECATUR, Texas (AP) — A paroled Colorado inmate who may be linked to the slaying of the state’s prison chief led Texas deputies on a 100 mph car chase that ended Thursday after he crashed into a semi and then opened fire before being shot down by his pursuers. Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, was driving a Cadillac in Texas that matched the description of the vehicle seen leaving the neighborhood where prisons chief Tom Clements was shot. Ebel was hooke...

Average for US jobless claims at fresh 5-year low WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment aid barely changed last week, while the average over the past month fell to a fresh five-year low. The decline in layoffs is helping strengthen the job market. Weekly unemployment benefit applications rose just 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 336,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. Over the past four weeks, the average number of applications has dropped by 7,500 to 339,750. T...

Drivers face high gas prices despite US oil boom NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. is increasing its oil production faster than ever, and American drivers are guzzling less gas. But you’d never know it from the price at the pump. The national average price of gasoline is $3.69 per gallon and forecast to creep higher, possibly approaching $4 by May. “I just don’t get it,” says Steve Laffoon, a part-time mental health worker, who recently paid $3.59 per gallon to fill up in St. Louis. U.S. oil output r...

House passes GOP budget plan promising deep cuts WASHINGTON (AP) — Moving on two fronts, the Republican-controlled House on Thursday voted to keep the government running for the next six months while pushing through a tea-party flavored budget for next year that would shrink the government by another $4.6 trillion over the next decade. The spending authorization on its way to the White House for President Barack Obama’s signature leaves in place $85 billion in spending cuts to the Pentagon a...

US pockets of protest persist after years of war MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The protesters gather at noon every Friday in front of the Montpelier post office, sharing signs made up years ago to tell their little part of the world why they oppose the latest war involving the United States. There might be as few as two people in the midwinter cold, or as many as 20 at the height of summer. But a decade after the invasion of Iraq, protesters there and at similar demonstrations coast to coast still ...

Officials: Oklahoma teen had history of running away MAYPEARL, Texas (AP) — A teen who stole medication and a cache of weapons and ammunition from his parents’ home in Oklahoma had a history of running away, but authorities still don’t know why he and a friend may have been trying to break into a Texas home where they ultimately died after a botched break-in. Authorities believe Kenneth Chaffin, 17, ran away from his home in Bethel Acres, Okla., on Monday. A national alert was issued Wednesday m...

Barbs of racism, anti-Semitism in NY school clash SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. (AP) — School board meetings descend into shouting matches. Accusations of racism and anti-Semitism fly. Angry parents turn their backs on board members in a symbolic stand of disrespect. Tension in a suburban New York school district is rooted in an unusual dynamic: The families who send their children to public schools are mostly Hispanic and African-American. The school board is almost entirely made up of ultra-Orthodox ...

Senate gun bill would expand background checks WASHINGTON (AP) — Gun control legislation the Senate debates next month will include an expansion of federal background checks for firearms buyers, Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday in a victory for advocates of gun restrictions. The announcement underscores that Democrats intend to take an aggressive approach in the effort to broaden the checks, currently required for transactions involving federally licensed firearms dealers but not p...

Simon & Garfunkel album among 25 to be preserved WASHINGTON (AP) — Simon & Garfunkel ’s song “The Sound of Silence,” written amid the turmoil following President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, and Chubby Checker’s 1960s dance hit “The Twist” are among 25 recordings selected for preservation at the Library of Congress. These are just a few sounds of the 20th century being added to the National Recording Registry on Thursday for long-term preservation for their cultural, artistic and histori...

US pediatricians back gay marriage, cite research CHICAGO (AP) — The nation’s most influential pediatrician’s group says gays should be allowed to marry to help ensure the health and well-being of their children. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ new policy, published online Thursday, cites research showing that the parents’ sexual orientation has no effect on a child’s development. Kids fare just as well in gay or straight families when they are nurturing and financially and emotionally st...

Boeing worker mentors ’Barefoot Bandit’ in prison SEATAC, Wash. (AP) — Jonathan Standridge and Colton Harris-Moore made an odd couple as they sat together in the visiting room of a Washington state prison one day last spring. Standridge, 57, is a project manager at Boeing, one of the world’s most important aviation companies. Harris-Moore, 21, is the “Barefoot Bandit,” a world-famous airplane thief who is serving a seven-year sentence after a sensational run from the law in stolen boats, cars...

Obama health law anniversary finds two Americas WASHINGTON (AP) — Three years, two elections, and one Supreme Court decision after President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, its promise of health care for the uninsured may be delayed or undercut in much of the country because of entrenched opposition from many Republican state leaders. In half the states, mainly led by Democrats, officials are racing deadlines to connect uninsured residents to coverage now only months away. In o...

Chicago to close 54 schools to address $1B deficitCHICAGO (AP) — Tens of thousands of Chicago students, parents and teachers learned Thursday their schools were on a long-feared list of 54 the city plans to close in an effort to stabilize an educational system facing a huge budget shortfall. Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the closures are necessary because too many Chicago Public School buildings are half-empty, with 403,000 students in a system that has seats for more than 500,000. But opponents sa...

Police: Girl, 7, was asked to pepper spray workers UPPER DARBY, Pa. (AP) — Police said a Philadelphia-area woman returned to a dollar store where she’d been banned and pepper-sprayed employees who tried to escort her out before giving the can to her 7-year-old daughter and asking her to continue the fight. Upper Darby police said Delaina Garling, 27, went to the Family Dollar Store on Monday, a place she’d been banned from for alleged theft. When employees tried to escort her out, police said ...

Colorado Corrections Dept. chief shot, killed at home MONUMENT, Colo. (AP) — The fatal shooting of Colorado’s top prisons official when he answered the front door at his house highlights a troubling reality for the nation’s judges, prosecutors and other legal officials: At a time when attacks on them are rising, it’s difficult for them to remain secure, even when they are off duty. Investigators do not yet know why Tom Clements, 58, was shot around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at his home just north of Colo...

Survey: Low-wage workers gloomy about future WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s lower-income workers have posted the biggest job gains since the deep 2007-09 recession — but few are bragging. As a workforce sector, those earning $35,000 or less annually are generally pessimistic about their finances and career prospects. Many see themselves as worse off now than during the recession, a two-part Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey of workers and employers shows. The s...

Fed says it will stick with aggressive stimulus WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday stood by its efforts to keep borrowing costs at record lows, saying it isn’t yet convinced that the U.S. economy’s growth can accelerate without significant help from the central bank. It wants to see sustained improvement. Fed officials reinforced their plan to keep short-term interest rates at rock-bottom levels at least until unemployment falls to 6.5 percent. An unemployment rate of 6.5 pe...

In Michigan, GOP governor finds a tax to like LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s venture capitalist-turned-governor, Rick Snyder, needed just five months in office to slash his state’s business taxes. Elected on the downside of the recession, he was among a crop of new Republican leaders eager to show they could boost their states’ ailing economies with lower taxes. But two years later, confronting one of the automobile-addicted state’s most visible problems — crumbling roads — Snyder has r...